The wife and I have booked a hotel in Atlanta for Dec 15th & 16th. Our plan is to spend most of Saturday at the aquarium. Any suggestions as to what time of day is best to get there or any other pointers that would make our visit more enjoyable?
the best time of day to go is right when they open. I went at mid afternoon (12pm-3pm) and it was PACKED! My friends go right when it opens (9am i think) and they say that there is pretty much nobody there.
Youll enjoy it, definitly worth the drive. Its an amazing experience that everyone should have.
yea get a reservation just in case, its worth the extra...10 bucks i think? anyways, they only sell a certain number of walk-up tickets per day and they go very fast. Even if your gonna be there right when it opens...get online reservations and try to get them for an early time. Oh, and dont forget to check out the little 4D show they have, it's adorable, that you need reservations for as well.
Yeah I was making the reservations online and it ask me for a time frame. I was thinking first thing in the morning too, so that's what I will book.
Gwen, I thought about doing the behind the scenes tour but is it worth $50? I know you did it and saw some of your pics on TRT. It looked cool but $50 could also buy a nice dinner.
Speaking of which, any good restaurant recommendations for near the aquarium?
On the tour, start at the cold water exhibit and work your way counter clockwise around the atrium and be sure you have 45 min to spare for the reef and the whale sharks. This leaves the most breathtaking parts for last.
The short version for times: Go on Friday between 5-6pm and 8pm, if you can.
The long reason:
My father and I did his first run through the GA Aquarium on 10/27 (Friday) with his Columbia University alumni group. The tour began at around 6:15pm. The population was mostly leaving and for almost 2 hours, there were so few people there it was astounding. In the two best exhibits (IMO), the whale sharks (Ocean Voyager) and the reef (Tropical Diver), there weren't more than 15 people in each room and if you took out Columbia alums, it was more like 10. The whale shark viewing room was spectacularly quiet with the music really dominating the view. You could actually sit and watch any of the attractions undisturbed and unblocked.
My guess is that the holiday hours are new so that nobody knows about the 8pm close and at 5-6 on Friday people are going out on the town or at home. Admittedly, this was just one week-end and was the Friday before Halloween, but I think all the parties were on Saturday.
All this is my observations from my 4 visits. 1 was a private opening Christmas party last year (fish + open bar = FUN!!) and 3 regular hours visits.
__________________ George
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